Never Trust Anything That Bleeds for Seven Days and Doesn’t Die: Menstruation, Cultural Materialism, and Autoethnography

Menstruation is a human experience that cuts across cultures and continents. However, the meaning this biological process is imparted varies greatly. In this thesis, I argue that the way the society treats menstruation is reflective of the way the society treats women. I base my argument in cultural materialism. I also apply the framework Susan Bordo (1993) used to examine anorexia nervosa towards examining menstruation discourse. Because I am a woman of two cultures, in one of which there is a lack of analysis of contemporary menstrual meanings, I use autoethnographic writing as a primary methodology